Haven't been sharking on the beach in awhile so Zack and I decided to give it another go before it gets too cold. On the way we noticed lightning in the sky but it was further east and offshore. Upon arrival the winds were very calm so the bugs were out. Surf was 1 - 1.5 ft and it was high tide. I brought along some fresh bait that was actually caught by myself this week, crevalle jack and a ladyfish. My two 12' Beefstick rods were already rigged with a single strand wire leader thats about 100lb test. One reel is spooled with 40lb power pro braid and my large Fin Nor Offshore reel is spooled with about 300 yds of 100 lb test braid.
Setup pretty quick and cut some ladyfish to start the night off. We didn't go out too far to cast our lines, probably at the most knee deep. I used 5oz pyramids as weights and they seemed to hold really well. Now it was the waiting game. Two rods soaking and two friends just hanging out on the beach. After about 20 minutes my rod gets the hit. I get the rod in my hands and tighten the drag, the line is still coming off. I tighten down some more and feel something shake and go faster again. Line goes off and I'm still hanging on. It's something big. I hold the spool and I think it's turned around, I feel a shake and then dead slack. It's off! I reel in the slack and I'm missing my weight, so I know the wire didn't break. Turns out it broke at the 100lb braid line. I initially thought it was a tail slap that broke me off (sharks are known to easily snap lines with their tails). But when I looked at my reel I noticed alot of line missing, probably a good 60 yards. Not exactly sure what happened on that one and it took me a few minutes to gather myself after that one. Losing a fish to a broken line is sickening.
After taking a moment to think about what just happened, I decided to switch baits to a chunk of crevalle jack. I let that soak for about 30 minutes but nothing. After that I told Zack we should both reel in, rebait with chunk of ladyfish and give it one last cast before we head back home. So we did this and as soon as I sat in my chair, my Fin Nor reel goes berserk again. I didn't have a chance to put my pants back on over my swimming suit. I grab the rod and it's peeling line out at will. I tighten down the drag and basically hang on as my spool is getting smaller and smaller. It's hauling ass and I'm losing the battle quickly. A couple times I tried to hold the spool briefly to stop the fish in it's tracks, but as soon as it felt me trying to pull it back, it gave a shake and moved even faster the other way. Now my spool is getting down to the danger zone with less than 100 yards remaining. Still...the fish never stopped. Not even for a second to let me gain any ground on it. At this time I knew I was getting spooled and there's no way I'm getting a chance to see this monster. Still going!! I saw the yellow braid disappear off my reel like it was nothing...and now I'm down to the mono backing which is only 30 lb test. It continued to roll off the mono as well, then SNAP! the mono finially gave out. Fight was over and I was done for the night. My reel was bare, only a few yards left of mono backing. I've never felt the power of a fish that big. I don't think my reel and gear is even capable of bringing in a beast of that caliber. It's just one of those things I couldn't do anything but hang on. Plus I didn't even have a fighting belt, so the butt of the rod was buried in my hip leaving me with a nice bruise. After a night like this, it sure makes me rethink my strategy for sharking. Unfortunately for Zack, he was left wondering why he didn't get a hit the whole night using the same bait I'm using. Thats fishing my friend.
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